First Link Found Of Heavy Metal, Troubled Youth

While there's been much speculation about what role heavy metal music may have in the thinking of young fans, there's been very little research related to the issue.

Parents of some teenage suicide victims have accused heavy-metal acts of having had a hand in their children's deaths, and some groups have been sued, unsuccessfully, on those grounds. In the controversy surrounding such cases, defenders of the genre have dismissed the possibility there could be any link.

Child psychiatrist Graham Martin, having seen a strong interest in heavy metal among some of his teenage patients, decided it was worth looking at. The results of research he conducted with colleagues found that, for certain teenagers, there may indeed be a link between preference for heavy metal and serious trouble -- it may indicate vulnerability to suicidal thoughts and actions.

The study should be viewed as preliminary, the researchers write, but they think the findings show associations between a preference for rock/metal (as opposed to pop) and suicidal thoughts, acts of deliberate self-harm, depression, delinquency, drug-taking and family dysfunction. That was particularly true for girls.

The most troubled group, the researchers found, felt worse after listening to the music they preferred. Those are the young people most vulnerable to acting out themes or lyrics from the music, they suggest.

It's not that heavy metal leads to suicidal impulses but that troubled kids are more likely to be drawn to it. "It's probably going to be one more sign that this child is struggling with their place in the world or their place in the family," says Martin, who is director and chief child psychiatrist at the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service at Flinders Medical Centre in South Australia. "It's not as simple as saying heavy-metal music causes suicide. That's ridiculous -- it doesn't, no more than opera causes suicide." For the study, students at two Australian high schools completed questionnaires about the kind of music they preferred and the messages it carried, and their psychological

well-being.

Among the findings:

Of the boys, 70.7 percent preferred rock/metal, and 74 percent of the girls preferred pop. (Rock/metal is viewed as a spectrum, "from rock through heavy rock and rap to heavy metal, punk, thrash and death metal." The rock category included Midnight Oil, Rolling Stones, Guns N' Roses; "metal punk" included Metallica, Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne, Suicidal Tendencies. In the pop category were Madonna, New Kids on the Block, Julian Lennon, Wings.) Most girls disliked rock/heavy metal. Those girls who did prefer it appeared "to be more disturbed as a group, claiming more suicidal thoughts and acts, scoring as significantly more depressed and delinquent, and coming from more difficult families."

A greater percentage of teenagers whose parents were still married and living together preferred pop -- 79 percent, as opposed to 63 percent for teenagers preferring rock/ metal.

The young people reported that rock/metal had more messages pertaining to drugs, violence, suicide, death, war and the devil, and fewer messages about love, happiness and the environment. But only 33 percent said they frequently agreed with the messages, and 15 percent said they never agreed with them.

"Once again, it seems to be this particularly distressed group who came out feeling sadder after listening to this music who actually seemed to be taking more notice of the lyrics. The lyrics seemed to have more meaning for them," Martin says.

So parents would be advised that a kid's taste for metal might be significant only in the context of known risk factors, such as depression, hopelessness, suicidal thoughts or attempts, drug abuse or family problems. When there is such a situation, Martin says, "they should then begin to take the thing seriously and ask questions, and be sympathetic, and be particularly empathetic around the area of depression and struggle."

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